The Big Bang is all but dead, says astrophysicist Adam Frank; our universe's "beginning" is at an end, though we do not yet know what will replace it. What does this have to do with us here on Earth? Frank explains that our measurement and perception of time are about to be dramatically shaken again—as much as they were with the invention of the clock, the steam engine, the railroad, the radio, and the Internet—by new cosmological theories that imply time with no beginning, parallel universes, and eternal inflation.

"A fascinating and comprehensive survey of how technology—from farming to railways to telegraphy to the Internet—has changed our everyday concept of time.... Frank's thesis that our notions of cosmic and human time are braided together is compelling."—New Scientist

"University of Rochester astrophysics professor Adam Frank explains how our experience of time has been repeatedly rejiggered throughout the millennia. Archaeological evidence of ancient lifestyles and routines indicates that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers 'lived through time as an unbroken whole,' he writes. But once humans settled down to farm, that changed. 'The farmer lived within a time marked by daily rounds of animal husbandry, home maintenance, and village life.' Then came the clock, then the industrial punch clock and then synchronized time, which further altered how human beings perceived, used and organized the moments of a day. All the while, these changing notions of time altered how people understood the cosmos. Theories about the beginning of time gradually shifted from a mythological Eden to the universe-generating big bang. Frank ponders fresh ideas in cosmology, such as string theory and the multi-verse, and how the human perception of time will change in the future."—Washington Post